PDS pole spin class

Posted on August 3, 2011 by e

Light warm up with pole (shoulder stretches, side bows, pencil grip warm up, lunges and hips warm up)

1) Combo #1
– left hook forward spin (right hand up on the pole, step on right foot – facing left – then pivot to face right and lift and hook left leg onto the pole – left knee behind pole – extend right leg straight outwards and forwards to spin forward)
– slide down and land on floor with left leg bent and right leg straight out (right hand stretch towards tip of right foot)
– back to pole and body roll up

2) Combo #2
– corkscrew pole climb (left hand high up on pole, step on left foot, then corkscrew climb to create momentum for spin)
– move right hand above left to lift up
– slide left hand and body under right hand in front of pole
– slide back through and back to pole
– lean out from pole and stretch left hand behind (to slow down)
– slide down to splits (or jazz split in my case)

3) Combo #3
– right hook forward spin (right hand high up on pole, step on right foot, straighten and swing left leg forward, and hook right leg on the pole with knee behind. left hand is low on the pole… around waist height. this creates a forward spin)
– get off the pole by stepping down on the left foot, then using it to push off backwards into backward sunwheel (left leg is in front, next to the pole). ideally pull up to lift higher on the pole – both hands are higher on the pole
– out of sunwheel into blade
– quickly shift body weight to the other side to go into forward sunwheel (right leg is in front, next to pole)

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L5 class with EG

Posted on July 27, 2011 by e

Conditioning:

1) straight arm front pull-ups (x4 x2 (ie. once on each side))

2) leg tucks with australian shoulder-mount grip (x3 x2 (ie. once on each side))

3) undergrip with blade into matrix lift (x4 x 4 (ie. twice on each side. only because most people, myself included couldn’t keep up with her speed of doing x4 at her counting speed))

4) leg lifts (x10 x2): basically we sat on the floor, back to pole, leaned forward with our hands near our knees, then we lifted both our legs quickly (x10) while keeping our legs straight out, stuck together, and toes pointed

Technique:
1) Flatline and Viva: my flatline and viva were quite good. much better when i trained with nat (probably because i was less tired than when i am usually with nat. or maybe because i didn’t do a climb, eagle, angel before that). i couldn’t be bothered to do the combination that the L5 advanced girls were doing: climb, eagle, angel into flatline and viva. because i tried climb eagle and failed MISERABLY. so i just climbed up and ungracefully hooked my right leg on the pole (doo-di-doo..)
2) Combination: Climb, V-sit, Bow & arrow first stage, slide down to elbow handstand and split dismount (the class worked on the following combination: Climb, V-sit, Bow & arrow, slide down, bow & arrow handstand split, elbow handstand and split dismount). I didn’t do the full bow & arrow because my foot is still hurting. i still found the elbow handstand scary, but it is getting better.

I bailed after that to go to Dinner with YF and M.

Anyway, EG didn’t take attendance like she usually does (not sure if she did so last week because i wasn’t there), but she remembered my name – yay! she was like: “e* isn’t it?” (score!! :)) but the downside is… she’ll probably remember if i don’t turn up as well. boo 🙁

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Private with N

Posted on July 24, 2011 by e

Conditioning:

1) Climb and scissor climb/pull-up (2x, one with right hand on top, one with left hand on top)

2) “Windscreen wiper” (positioned like a side pull-up, tuck, and then tilt from one side to the other)

3) Shoulder mount tuck (x3, left shoulder on pole only, open grip)

4) Shoulder mount kicks (x3, left shoulder on pole only, open grip)

Technique:

1) Shoulder mount (into caterpillar). Open and closed grip. x3. Managed to do it with minimal support / push from Nat. But very inelegantly. My toes struggled to grip the pole and pull my heel on before I pushed my hips upward into caterpillar.

2) Falling angels. x2 (ie. did two sets down the pole). I had to do climb caterpillar into eagle because I’m still struggling with climb eagle. My leg swaps were okay – didn’t really get tangled up this time, like I did once or twice in my first session. But I still felt like my body wasn’t sliding down / adjusting to the drop enough for me to feel secure with my waist point of contact. Maybe my body couldn’t adjust enough because it was quite warm and I was quite sticky so found it somewhat difficult to slide down. I was still super stressed with the move, but I think slowly getting better. I swapped legs until I was pretty near the floor. I came down quite suddenly the first time, with a thud onto the floor.

3) Butterfly. x4. I did the butterfly 4x. Didn’t feel very secure somehow. I felt like I was relying too much on my right / upper hand, especially when I was bringing my body to the front to face the pole and before I pushed away with my left / lower hand. But it did get better as I practiced more, but I have to keep reminding myself to keep my back leg in “attitude” position.

4) Bow & arrow. x2. I did the Bow & arrow a couple of times. It was a struggle to get my  left hand onto the pole between my butt cheeks. It took ages to get it in place. My right foot was hurting again, so I didn’t feel secure “sickle-ing” / hooking my foot onto the pole, so I didn’t do it more than twice.

5) Inverted swan. x2. I did it the inverted swan twice. The first time, I skipped hooking my right foot onto the pole and tried to hook my left leg immediately, which stressed Nat out a bit I think (oops ;p). The second time, I tried to hook my right foot before tilting / shifting my weight outwards to the right hand side. I think Nat was still a bit stressed out, but I felt reasonably secure. My exit wasn’t very good though. I didn’t feel super secure just getting down from the position
As a reminder, the positiong is as follows: start from a hangback, use your right hand to pull your shoulder towards the pole (a bit like in Bow & arrow), then move your body around the pole until the right hand is straight and holding / pushing away from the pole (it is the bottom hand), and the left hand is near the shoulder, the pole in the left armpit and the left elbow/arm bent and keeping the pole between it and the body. right hand shifts downwards a bit as I tilt outwards / rightwards.

6) Pencil mount. x3. I tried it once tucking into it, once with an open split lift, and the last time was trying to do an open split lift, but ended up lifting my legs straight up instead, which actually makes it harder! Anyway, I think I did reasonably well, with some spotting and assistance from Nat, but not as much as I expected to need. Surprisingly, I think I found it easier to go into it from sideways split because with the splits method, I could bring my head closer to the ground, and my hips closer to the pole, which makes all the difference in being able to get my hips up. Once I was up, I was quite confident about staying there. To dismount, I was going into splits and dismounting (as slowly as possible)

I did the session with Julie T.

Overall, I didn’t think I did very well in this session. I was a bit sloppier / dangerous (or at least Nat seemed worried), and I didn’t feel very secure in several of the moves. I think the 10 day gap in pole has really made a difference in my strength and confidence. And I’m not looking forward to more gaps in my training post summer, when work gets busier. 🙁

 

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L5 course, class #3

Posted on July 13, 2011 by e

 

Conditioning:

1) eagle (hold for 4 counts), then bring outside leg to the pole (like sideways V) without leg touching the pole, then bring top / outside leg to join inside leg. repeated 3x (twice on good side, once on bad). i only did the first 2 sections (ie. did not join legs), but even then, really struggled.

2) undergrips (blade, matrix, swan) – two cycles for L5, three cycles for L3 x 2 (once on good side, once on bad side)

Technique:

1) Lean-back
– extremely poor performance. i was struggling to bring my feet / legs downward to the ground, so i was “top heavy” and my body was tilting to the ground
– i tried it several times but still failed miserably, good thing this move isn’t part of the assessment!
>> the bottom in class for this one

2) Half-flag / flag
– did very well… much better than expected
– the first time i managed it, i was so surprised that i almost fell off
– managed to do half flag and flag (? – the version where both legs are straight out together) and held them for a while too
– EG taught us to face the pole in starting position (instead of facing downwards to the floor then turning to the pole, although this is probably needed for aerial half flag)
>> one of the better / best n00bs

3) Butterfly
– i almost fell off the first time because i was confused about which way around to go – at splash beauty, we would change into a forearm grip, whereas we used a split grip here, which confused me
– i was generally doing pretty alright, but was struggling to get my body straight in line with the pole, and i felt quite stressed / slightly dizzy / slippy.. like i was going to fall off
>> started off being among the best n00bs (because i was just going for it), but others quickly caught up, so i was about average

4) Standing shoulder mount
– was struggling to get up without help, partly because i was trying to avoid kicking into it / avoid using momentum
– i was managing to tuck quick high and almost reach my toes onto the pole without momentum / aid… but in the end, EG helped me up and i got there – yay 🙂
– she told me to kick into it next time, oh well
>> i was kind of average among the n00bs. most people got up at least once (i got up once too), but i think i was trying not to kick, which is a good thing

5) Superman
– EG made it look super graceful and easy, i thought it was going to be a walk in the park. SO WRONG. it hurt like a b*tch!!!
– nonetheless, did twice from caterpillar, once from standing… which was tougher than it looks
– the difficult part is getting the bum onto the pole before “flipping” into superman. the steps are: i) to get the inside hip close to the pole: so drop the weight into the upper body / lean into the shoulder, ii) get the bum close to the pole: again, lean away from the legs on the pole and onto shoulders, iii) straighten the legs and twist body around, iv) only remove the bottom hand when everything feels stable
– EG held my upper hand while i was doing this, which kept me on the pole (instead of sliding down)
>> average / above average

Cool-down/stretching:

Stretching was uneventful. we worked on the box splits in pairs: legs in V, feet against the partner’s legs, one partner would pull the other girl forward. I managed to almost go all the way down to the floor, so my partner and EG was impressed at my flexibility. but then, i don’t think i opened my legs as wide as i could’ve.. which would have made it more difficult i think…

 

 

Technique:

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pole ace

Posted on July 8, 2011 by e

had class with Nicky S

worked on:
1) pencil mount
– never managed to get up, but got closer to doing so through trying to tuck into pencil

2) archer
– managed to get it, although worked very near the ground

3) full inverted swan
– tried hooking right leg before shifting my weight, but that didn’t work too well for me because my foot hurt when i twisted it
– so tried hooking my left leg directly. that was pretty scary but it worked for me.
– the key is to also lean out to the right hand side / away from the pole
– my hands shift down slightly when i hook my left leg on the pole, so it’s important to start higher up the pole so my lower hand doesn’t slip off the pole when i go into inverted swan

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L5 course, second class

Posted on July 6, 2011 by e

Conditioning:

1) Straight leg lift x 4 (right side 4x, left side 4x) x 2

2) scissor climb x 8 x 2 (i was pathetic at this. i think i was the worst performer in class 🙁 )

New moves:

1)    Star (outside angel into star. i was really stressed and hyperventilating with this, just like i was with falling angels. my first attempt was really lame: legs barely opened, and released very quickly. second time round, i just went for it and just prayed like crazy that my partner was spotting me properly. that was much better. miraculously, i stayed on the pole – whoo hoo!!! i did it several times, over and over again to make sure my muscles remember the move)

2)    Thigh hold (i wanted to try star into thigh hold. but thought i better not move too quickly, and not tire myself out too quickly either. again, although it seemed like i wouldn’t stick to the pole, i did. did this several times, but not too many as i didn’t want to tire myself out)

3)    Mermaid 1st stage (i tried doing the mermaid legs, but EG was like: DON’T move your legs! it’s true i didn’t feel as secure, but probably because i was getting a bit tired / stressed and/or because no one was really spotting me. i felt a bit loser-ish that i was “regressing” in that i was doing less than i was doing with Nat. ah well, but better safe than sorry)

4)    Inverted swan 1st stage (we just did the first stage which is kind of easy. hang back and sliding down almost into bow & arrow position, then bringing the body to the front and using a “forearm grip”[?]. i was tempted to try the second stage, but i didn’t feel i had the energy)

5)    Climb, bullet, sideways-V (sideways-V is easy. the tricky part was to do bullet from climb. i was struggling to get into it without kicking into the pole. but it was much better when i just went for it.)

was a reasonably good day. i was ahead of almost all of my L5 newbie peers, except for two girls:
– Clara, who used to be much stronger than me anyway, back in L1
– Rhiannon, who has done many of these moves before at the gym she goes to. she’s been my pole buddy at class so far, but EG has promoted her to join the regular L5s because she says she’s ready to train with combinations already, whereas Clara was demoted from regular L5 to newbie L5 (although she says this was her first L5 anyway

i was really quite sad to see Rhiannon leave, because i think it has been very helpful for me to be sharing a pole with someone more experienced who could show me the moves when  i wasn’t sure which hands were going where or how to get into a move. that has helped in pushing me further than i otherwise would have dared to.

while the other girls were stuck struggling to do moves or trying them from the ground, i dared to give it a go because i’ve clearly seen it done successfully by Rhiannon, which sparks my competitive spirit as well.

Ending:

1)    Free-style: i was really happy with this.
i didn’t do heaps of  tricks here because i was quite tired and didn’t want to be reckless. but in addition to my usual bag of tricks: matrix/corkscrew climb/hang back/ V sit/ statue, i also threw in a spinning eagle into outside angel (yay me! although i was getting a bit dizzy and worried about sliding).
and i did a lot of transition type dancing, e.g. one of Nat’s moves of swapping arms and doing bicycle legs down the pole; some good old spins e.g. flying body spiral and swan into back hook spin, bullet spin into sideways V.
impressively enough, i managed to dance for a good, solid 4 minutes! although i paused a bit in between when i was struggling to remember what moves i could do.
i think i really should write down all the moves that i can do / have learnt so that i have a list of them that i can refer to and use in my freestyle!

2)    Cool down/stretch: box and front/back splits

 

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L5 lesson with N

Posted on July 2, 2011 by e

L4 revision:
1)    Inside angel (was much neater and more graceful than i’ve managed in a long long time)
2)    Climb caterpillar (i managed it!! 🙂 not gracefully, but still, reasonably confidently. Nat was saying i should just go for it and not think too much about it and hold myself in position and get tired. so true. it really helps if i just go right for it)

New L5 material:
1)    Mermaid (Nat was going to teach me just the first stage, but i looked stable enough i guess, because she let me do the full mermaid)
2)    Falling angels (which looked more like “swapping angels” for me on my first attempt, since i was so stressed and swapped so quickly that i didn’t budge AT ALL. i was really hyperventilating before trying it, but i remembered LV agonising so much before doing it, and how she succeeded once she tried it – so i just went for it)
3)    Handstand split dismount into floor splits (good performance, although i thought it looked dangerous at first. i even did split dismount into floor splits, which was the next stage after split dismount)
4)    Lean-back (poor performance. i was really struggling to push my chest up and kept feeling like i was dangerously off-balance)
5)    Half flag (poor performance. i barely managed to get into position at all, and just about got there a couple of times, without holding the position at all)

i was really really happy with my performance and had a big confidence boost. yay!! :)))

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First day of L5

Posted on June 30, 2011 by e

I was really nervous before my first L5 class with the founder of my school EG (Wed, 29 June), because she has a fearsome reputation of being very strict. I was practically working myself up into a lather and very nearly decided to skip the class. I as convinced that I would be the worst girl in class and be kicked out of class and EG would blame my teacher for letting me up to L5 before I was ready.

Thankfully, I went ahead. It was way less scary than I expected it to be. I wasn’t the worst girl in class (although quite near the bottom of the pecking order), and EG was actually really lovely with a girly voice and very encouraging but at the same time, really tries to push the girls to progress.

anyway, the stuff i worked on were:
1) bow & arrow (positioning on the pole, slide down the pole then the extension while our hands were on the ground)
2) elbow stand then split dismount (i was really crap at this – not controlled at all)
3) pencil (i was struggling to get up because i was afraid and didn’t know what to do. could only get up when EG / other girls pulled me hips onto the pole)
4) shoulder mount from the ground, ie. from “table top” position the way we did at the beginning of learning caterpillar (i managed to get my legs up – yay!!)
5) cupid (easy for me) from climb eagle (i only did eagle) into outside angel and into cupid
6) archer ( i just about managed to to it – both hands off, for 3 counts – but only because elena was there spotting me. otherwise i don’t think i would have dared to let go) from climb eagle into outside angel into archer
anyway, i thought i took it easy at pole yesterday (e.g. didn’t try for bow and arrow too many times because my feet hurt etc.) and felt fine after the class, so i thought i would not ache at all today. but my back is aching all over today and my arms are aching too.. crazy!!

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Hello pole world!

Posted on June 26, 2011 by e

Went to PDS showcase today. There were girls from different levels performing, from L3-L8. Two of the L4 girls did climb caterpillars beautifully (without struggling like I do), and the other girls were really inspiring as well.

So I came back and decided to do some training. But I did quite poorly: was really struggling with eagles and climb caterpillars, and failed to do a single inside angel.

Anyway, pole training today was ~30 minutes:
– front pull up (one on each side)
– side pull up (one on each side)
– frog tuck (two on each side)
– eagles (two on each side)
– shoulder mount kicks (one on each side)
– shoulder mount tuck (two on each side. but very quickly, without holding)
– 3x climb caterpillar (but struggling. had to hook my right leg on in an unglamourous fashion!)
– 2 sets of 3x half hangback crunch up
– a couple of climbs
objective of the session was: strengthen core, train inside angel, train climb caterpillar.
assessment: ok for core, ok for climb caterpillar, fail for inside angel

the Boy says my poor performance is down to the fact that i went for a one-hour bootcamp pilates session this morning.

anyway, i also did some belly dancing, working on my choreography. my performance is crap, but at least i remember my choreography now, which is a start.

time for bed.

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